DIY Colorful Clip-in Extensions

Colorful hair, or “scene hair” as the kids call it, is all the rage these days. From the runways, to pop stars, the new emos, to the Hunger Games enthusiasts, everybody is rocking fun and playful colors in their hair this Spring.

Cheap color clip-ins are fun and easy, but they don’t handle styling and heat very well. Quality clip-ins are made with premium hair and can be bleached, re-colored, styled, etc., and pretty much lasts forever, BUT they can be expensive; Sephora’s quality color clip-in line costs $22 per 2 grams!

With hair (extensions,etc.) it’s always better to buy in ounces. Working with wide wefts means you can make entire rows of solid clip-ins or break it up into numerous 1 1/2-inch highlights. Since I had a few ounces of hair lying about the house (literally), and was feeling crafty (but not in the tricky way), I decided to DIY-myself these fabulous colorful clip-in extensions.

What you’ll need:

1. Some wefts of hair (weave, as I like to call it) Any color is fine. See below for how-to bleach it*

2. Temporary Hair Dye: I used Manic Panic “Cotton Candy” pink and Color Jamz in Aquamarine

3. A pack of snap-clips for extensions (available at Sally’s Beauty Supply)

4. Needle & Thread

Step 1: Assuming you’re working with light blonde hair*, using a brush and non-metallic bowl, distribute the temporary dye on each side of freshly washed hair. (Manic Panic: blow dry hair completely before dying. Color Jamz: towel dry). Leave dye in for 25 mins and rinse thoroughy.

Color Tip: Manic Panic was the superior color choice. Color Jamz ( Aquamarine) took forever to rinse,bled all over my towels and T-shirt, and then promptly turned green the minute I flat ironed it while MP’s “Cotton Candy” colored the hair perfectly.

Step 2: Decide how wide you want your extensions ( a row vs. highlights). For highlights, cut the weft into 1 1/2 inch pieces.

Step 3: Sew the wefts to the snap clips. The brand from Sally’s comes with guiding holes for your needle and thread so it’s VERY easy.

Fun stuff, right? Now go color yourself some extensions!

*Tips for bleaching dark hair blonde:

It’s a two-step bleaching process to lighten dark hair to light blonde. Chances are you’ll go through every spectrum of brass and yellow before you reach your golden destination. You’ll need a few scoops of bleach, 40 developer, and foil. Process the hair for about 1 hour max, then rinse, CONDITION, and dry. Repeat the bleaching process for another 30 mins to an hour.

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Help! How to Revive Fried Hair

Last night I learned a very hard lesson: never trust a curling iron that doesn’t have any sort of temperature gauge. The second lesson obviously being never use a curling iron that is just too hot.  It was a gory battle and I’m sorry to say, guys, my hair did not make it out unscathed. Literally, my hair is scathed! Do you know the feeling? Some of you are sitting at your desks right now with with smoke flumes still coming out of your hair. Maybe your hair smells like a charred building. Maybe your hair feels like dry hay. Well…well my friend, this article is exactly what you need.

1. The Miracle Hair Mask

Ingredients:

1. 4oz cup of plain (full fat) yogurt
2. 2 Tablespoons Coconut cream (You can find this in the ethnic foods isle)
3. 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil

Steps: Mix Coconut cream and Coconut oil in a bowl and microwave for about 1 min.  Mix in the yogurt then massage this thick mask into the hair (hair should be slightly damp with water) completely and cover with a shower cap. Leave this on for 1 hour. Rinse mixture out. (This will take awhile to rinse completely because of the bits of coconut). *You can use a bit of conditioner as shampoo to help get all the residue out.

Why it’s Awesome: Coconut cream is often used as a natural curl softener. In fact, afro-rockers have been using this to soften their curls for years. But why should afros have all the fun? Coconut cream REALLY softens the hair while the mix packs it with restorative oils that will get your hair back to its pre-hay days.

2. A Shampoo/Conditioner Overhaul

Now that your hair actually feels like hair and not straw, you don’t want to ruin it by sucking the moisture out of it, do you? I hope not. Look at the ingredients in your shampoo and if you see salt (sodium) or sulfates (sodium lauryl), throw it in the garbage immediately. No more suds or soapy lathers for you, amigo. That will just defeat the purpose of your restorative hair mask and keep the straws coming back.

But Why? Suds and bubbles do not clean hair, neither do their agents: sulfates and sodium. They draw moisture out of the hair and since your hair is already fried, you can’t afford to lose any more moisture. Invest in a good salt-free and sulfate-free shampoo and a good protein conditioner to boot. The protein will help fill in some of the broken bonds caused by the heat damage.

3. Tread Carefully 

I would tell you to avoid styling with heat completely but that would be idealistic. Just make sure you’re not styling clean/dry hair. Moisturize. Invest in a good styling oil with silicone. Silicone will actually smooth out the damaged parts of your hair strand and mend split ends temporarily.

Trust me, I’ve been here before and these tried and true methods haven’t failed me yet. Though you’ll definitely still need to trim the most damaged ends, you’ll find that if you follow these 3 tips, your hair will look and feel as good as new.

Natural Hair Lighteners: Do They Really Work?

A common beauty myth out there is that foods like lemon and tea can naturally lighten your hair by themselves. Zelo has been dedicating quite a bit of time to blondes, researching the latest tips and how-tos to enhance and preserve those golden locks, and one of the biggest foux pas I’ve seen are tutorials that only require combining the incredients to the hair with a 15 min shower cap. These tutorials are missing the most important element: the sun!

Here’s a quick anecdote: A friend of mine has been volunteering in for Peace Corps in Peru for a little over a year. When she left America she had dark “dirty” blonde hair. When she came home this Christmas, she had bright, golden, ultra blonde surfer girl hair!

While we all know a year of sunlight can lighten your hair like a bottle of 40 vol developer and powder bleach combined, understanding the science behind it can save you A LOT of time and money. Simply put, Sunlight breaks down the melanin (color) in your hair.

So where does lemon juice come in? And what about chamomile tea? “Lemon juice contains citric acids that open your hair cuticles up,” (Health Mango). This makes the hair more receptive to sunlight and basically accelerates the suns natural bleaching process (oxidation), giving you months worth of sunshine in about 30 minutes.

This is why natural bleaching methods don’t work without sunshine. They’re accelerating what the sun does naturally. BUT, lemon is really bad for your hair and terrible for the skin in the sun. So if you’re planning on having a lemon sun bath, PLEASE, for goodness sake, deep condition and make sure you don’t get ANY on your scalp and skin. Can you say blisters, sunburns, and dark spots? Not cute at all.

Last tip: Squeeze your own natural lemon juice for best results. If lemon juice gives you patchy or overly bright results, try 100% brewed chamomile tea which has been known to give a more natural, all over, lightening affect.

This also works for brunettes too!